Report: Patent office should become federal corporation

[The Straight Story]

Report: Patent office should become federal corporation

By Randy Barrett, National Journal's Technology Daily
The Patent and Trademark Office should become a government corporation headed by a CEO with strong business experience, according to a yet-to-be-released report from the National Academy of Public Administration.

In a report summary obtained by National Journal's Technology Daily, NAPA recommends incorporating PTO as the best way to improve its performance. The tech industry advocates PTO reforms designed to speed patent awards and improve the quality of submissions.

"As a self-sustaining federal entity that performs a direct service for fee-paying customers, needs to be able to function like a business and report to Congress and the administration with a bottom-line set of financial statements," the memorandum said.

The CEO position should take the place of a board of directors, NAPA said, and an "advisory board could provide stakeholder input" from people interested in patent policy.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=32092&dcn=gpra

[Fovea]

1. yeah

let's Enronize the Patent Office!

[funflower]

2. Maybe I missed this, but what would happen to surplus funds? Would

they be reinvested in patent office operations? That seems like a sensible idea to me. There's no reason for people seeking patents to fund all kinds of other government functions.

[NoMoreMrNiceGuy]

3. They already do dirty work for corp's/gov't(whats the difference really)

They denied multiple patent request for cold fusion then granted one to MTI, which has close ties to the gov't. There are other examples which I can't think of at the moment. The power brokers aren't about to let anyone else play ball.

[Deja Q]

4. Hand a broken system to the type of people who broke it?!

Abolish the system and let corporations share and share alike instead of acting like toddlers in a sandbox trying to protect their favored buckets and spades.

And have them report to customers rather than 'shareholders' too.

[wli]

5. the merger between the corporation and the state proceeds n/t